


Tea Leaves - Drenched

by SophSaige



Series: Tea Leaves [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Coping with death/ loss, F/M, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Night Terrors, Nightmares, One noncon kiss, Patch 5.0: Shadowbringers Spoilers, Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal Spoilers, struggling to swim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 04:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SophSaige/pseuds/SophSaige
Summary: The hint of hands began to emerge from the dark waters, reaching toward her as black robes billowed around them.What is a shade doing this far from Amaurot?The thought quickly left Vin’s mind as she reached back towards the Amaurotine, wordlessly pleading for her salvation.
Relationships: Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch & Warrior of Light, Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Original Character(s), Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Warrior of Light
Series: Tea Leaves [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1922944
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	Tea Leaves - Drenched

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for Emet/WoL Week 2020, Day 2: Ocean/ Rain
> 
> This is a part of my Tea Leaves series! Reading the others is not required, but is recommended. c:
> 
> CONTENT WARNINGS: Drowning, struggling to swim, one noncon kiss, night terror/ nightmare, coping with death, 5.3 spoilers
> 
> Suggested Listening: [“When She Went Away” - Max Richter](https://youtu.be/77-hFjU5JU0) (Youtube Link)

Vin plunged into the ocean headfirst. Cold, salty water shocked her skin, causing her eyes and mouth to snap open like levin. Fully clothed, the abyss pulled her in as she saw bubbles of breath lazily trailing upward. 

_Bubbles?_

Vin grasped her throat. _No, no, no -_ she couldn’t breathe. The Kami’s blessing was gone, and in its place was the heaviness of the water around her. Vin thrashed, trying to reach the surface, but the tides yet towed her further downward. Panic-stricken, she searched for the hint of something, anything in the empty blues and blacks around her to hold onto. 

_There._

The hint of hands began to emerge from the dark waters, reaching toward her as black robes billowed around them. _What is a shade doing this far from Amaurot?_ The thought quickly left Vin’s mind as she reached back towards the Amaurotine, wordlessly pleading for her salvation. 

Their hands grasped one another like fervent prayers in the dark, quiet and loud in their desperation. Vin held tight as a sudden torrent ripped around them, tumbling them both through the waters and pulling the shade’s hood down. She looked up and dread took hold in her breast.

It was _him_. A hateful smirk curled onto Emet-Selch’s lips as Vin tried to wrench her hands away, but the Ascian gripped her tighter and pulled her towards him. Careening ever downward in the water, Vin kicked and turned, trying in vain to bring them back to the surface. Emet-Selch gripped the back of her head and violently pressed his open mouth to hers, breathing icy waters into her lungs. She flailed and jerked in his grip like a fettered animal, feeling the pressure of him and the deepening water against her as he dragged them further down until - 

Vin’s body snapped upright, soaked in sweat and enveloped in the echo of thunder. She looked to her window - a summer storm. The safety of her bed hadn’t been enough to ward off another night terror. Vin ran her fingers through her hair, exasperated. Her scalp was damp and her face was hot - she needed fresh air.

Not bothering to change out of her nightclothes or even put on shoes, Vin got out of bed and stepped onto the porch of her cottage. The night was thick with warm rain and the occasional roll of thunder above. Vin sighed, her breath heavy, and stepped into the downpour.

Summer storms are funny. They seem full and threaten to drench you, but the moment you willingly place yourself beneath, unprotected, you find that the waters aren’t enough. You can feel each individual spot of moisture on your skin, but there are still too many dry patches left. Vin wrapped her arms around herself and turned her face to the sky, closing her eyes. The waters couldn’t wash away the sweat, it seemed. And they certainly couldn’t quench the ache in her throat.

_I didn’t do enough._

Again and again, she repeated the words in her mind. Maybe things would have been different, had she held his hand for longer than a moment when they sat on her balcony. Maybe if she had been more insistent in her offer to come visit her again, she could have forged a friendship there. Maybe if she had gone to Amaurot alone, he wouldn’t have drifted so far away. Maybe Emet-Selch wouldn’t have had to play the villain. 

But he did. And she hadn’t done enough to change that. She hadn’t saved him, or Elidibus either, for that matter. The last two unsundered souls of their kind, and she couldn’t even think to beg Hydaelyn to spare them. To plead for another way, so they _all_ could be saved. She knew them once, Vin _knew_ that now, and she had completely and utterly failed them. Tears welled in her eyes as she bit her bottom lip.

 _“If you’re going to cry, you may as well just do it. It’s such a clich_ _é_ _for the hero to hold back their tears.”_

Vin could almost hear Emet-Selch’s words just the way he had said them to her when light was wreaking havoc on her body. She imagined him standing on her porch now, rolling his eyes and waving his hand at her dismissively. Vin choked out a small, pained laugh, and let her tears fall.

The first real cry she’s had since being stolen away to The First, and she was so horrifically alone. Vin wished she had been stronger. She wished she had been brave enough to hold Elidibus’s hands to comfort him as he cried in a pitiful heap before her. She wished she had done something, anything, other than just stand there as Emet-Selch - no, _Hades_ implored her to remember them. She wished she could remember those memories that she could feel moving just beneath the surface of her skin, endlessly scraping and begging to be let out. She wished she hadn’t killed him. She wished he could bear witness to the sorrow she was finally displaying. Vin grit her teeth and fell to her knees.

_But you are not here to see it._

_But you are not here to see it._

_But you are not here to see it._

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading!~
> 
> If you enjoy reading and/ or writing fanfic, come join us at the [Emet Selch's Wholesomely Debauched & Enabling Bookclub discord](https://discord.gg/3nnDmez)!~ Without them, this piece wouldn’t exist! <3


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